David

This last couple of weeks have been the absolutely best & worst, the most scary & most peaceful, the saddest & happiest, and some of the most blessed and spiritual of any of the 1612 weeks of our married life! Most of you know that David had his third heart attack on Sunday, August 17th at 12:28am. I had heard him get up and then I heard a thud....when I called out his name, there was no answer. I jumped out of bed and turned on the bedroom light and he was passed out on the bathroom floor with his head up against the tub and his feet against the counter....I seriously panicked because he really looked well, dead! I started slapping him and calling his name and he opened his eyes and said, "I'm okay, I just fell asleep" I don't think he was really with it because that didn't seem like the perfect spot for sleeping. He got back to bed and said he was fine, but by the time I headed back to bed, he said that I should probably call 911 (after getting him dressed) He was having trouble catching his breath and his chest was starting to feel like a horse was sitting on it. I called 911 and in-between getting dressed myself and checking up on him and talking to the 911 dispatch...it seemed like it took forever for them to get here....they immediately went right to work on David and promptly took me away, distracting me with all kinds of questions, about his medications and history and such! I was quite upset at their questions, because I was trying to be their for David, and yet I know now that they needed me out of the way because of the seriousness of the situation.
Paramedics must have some kind of code word or something for "get the wife out of the way", because even after all the questions about his history, the paramedic (or fireman) suggested that I drive myself to the hospital so that I would have my car...so as they were taking David out the front door, I was running to the garage and had backed my car half way out the driveway, when the paramedic/fireman knocked on my window and asked if we could go back into the house and check the bedroom and make sure that they had got all their equipment....I was screaming inside wondering what the heck they were doing, but I got out of the car and took him back in the house and then he noticed a quarter size spot of blood on the sheets from the IV and he said, "Ma'm do you have some hydrogen peroxide and we can clean up this blood?" I seriously just looked at him, thinking are you kidding me?...but I went in the laundry room and got the peroxide and handed it to him....I stayed over by the bedroom door because I wanted out of there...he proceeds to take a Q-tip and start swabing the blood, I about lost it then and finally said, "I don't care about the blood, that's the least of my worries" He then said, "Ma'm do you happen to have a towel I could use? I seriously was so upset by this point that I threw a towel at him...and headed back to the garage...he stopped me and said, that the ambulance was already at the hospital and that I was to drive the speed limit and be safe. (I now know that upon putting him in the ambulance, the paramedic immediately sat on David and started CPR...they did CPR for 17 minutes while in the ambulance...that is why they didn't want me in the ambulance or even following it because I would have seen what was going on and I would have really lost it.)
I jumped in the car, and speed dialed Jason because I knew that he was closer than I was to the hospital and I wanted someone there with David. When I got to the hospital, Jason met me in the parking lot and said that they wouldn't let him in....when I got in they said the same thing. I quess I should say that I knew that this one was much worse than the previous two heart attacks....David has never passed out before or lost consciousness. I knew one of the paramedics (he had lived in our ward) and I could tell by his voice that he was quite upset, they have always let me ride in the ambulance and always let me be by his side in the emergency room....and this waiting in the waiting room was torture. It was amazing to me how the spirit instantly kept me calm....almost numb I quess. It was like I could understand what was happening, but really couldn't feel anything. All of the kids and Leon (David's brother) had made it to the waiting room by the time a doctor came out to talk to us....the first thing he said was maybe we better go into the chapel! I think that at that point I was out of it...I hardly remember anything....the kids say that the doctor didn't give us much hope and when Michelle asked about a blessing, the doctor turned to me and said, "Do you want me to help your husband or do you want a blessing?" I just stood there with my mouth open because I wanted both....I wanted her to do all that she could do, and Heavenly Father to do all that he could do....finally she relented and said that only the two giving the blessing could go in and that they would not stop working! It seemed like Jason and Ricky barely left the chapel when they were back...how grateful I am for a son and son-in-laws with the priesthood....boy did David need Heavenly Fathers help! I didn't actual get to see David until they wheeled him down the hall right past us to go to the Cath Lab....it was awful, they had had to inti bate him with a tube down his throat and he was hooked up to so many different wires that you could hardly see his arms, he still looked unconscious to me and so pale....David wished that I would have taken a picture of him....I told him that that wasn't funny, what if it had ended differently and that is the last picture that I would have had of him! It is hard enough getting that picture out of my head. David's dad and I got to go into the cath lab after the surgery, and the doctor still didn't hold out much hope....it was really scary to see him like that....All day Sunday and until noon on Monday, it was so hard for me to even look at him, he looked so bad..and every time I held his hand or talked to him he would try to talk or respond and the ventilator would make him gag and he was throwing up so much. Monday at noon they were finally able to take out the tube in his throat and that really helped him to feel a bit better, although he was still so sick to his stomach. It was an awful two days....but by Wed. I could tell that he was doing so much better. They took him back to the Cath Lab on Wed. morning to put a defibrillator/pacemaker in his chest and by Thursday he was out of ICU and walking the halls. It is a miracle to me that he turned around so fast and was doing so well. He was home by Sat. less than a week after the heart attack....and I practically had to tie him down to keep him from going to church on Sunday. We both know what a blessing we have had and I know that Heavenly Father is in charge and that when he let David come back to us, he let him come back without any complications, or further problems. It is seriously like the heart attack never happened, other than for the new hardware in his chest. He is not supposed to lift anything or drive for six weeks and I have hardly been able to keep him down for the first three days that he has been home from the hospital...
I am so grateful for miracles, for the tender mercies of the Lord, so grateful for the Priesthood, and so grateful for my family and dear friends who have done so much for us....changed sheets, fed animals, brought meals, mowed the lawn, said prayers, put his name in the temple, called, sent get-well cards, and emails......I could not have made it through this again, without all of you!